


25. Needle

by TheMagicWord



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, No Blood, no actual piercing, potential ear piercing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 14:03:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17285447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMagicWord/pseuds/TheMagicWord
Summary: Niall's had his heart broken and he goes to Harry's for... something.





	25. Needle

**Author's Note:**

> Rather than doing NaNoWriMo* this year, I decided to write a 500-ish word drabble every day. Various pairings and some requests.
> 
> *I failed on the NaNo thing, but I'm going to write 30 anyway.

Niall's always been an affectionate drunk. Like Harry, he's affectionate sober too. So when the two of them are drunk together it's absolutely a cuddle-fest, always has been. But tonight feels different. Maybe because Niall is there because he split up from Hailee and at the start of the night he was sadder than Harry can remember seeing him for a long time. Maybe because it's actually the first time they've seen each other for ages and Harry hadn't realised how much he'd missed him and he knows Niall feels the same. 

But there's something else as well, something that hasn't been there before. Or if it was, Harry missed it. It's in the way Niall brushed his fingers through the curls at the back of Harry's neck, asking if he was growing it out again (he's definitely trying, but it looks fucking stupid at the moment and he's having to resist getting the whole lot cut off). It's how closely they're sitting together on the enormous sofa, Niall's thigh pressing so warmly against Harry's that he can feel it through his jeans. When Harry starts to shuffle along the sofa to get up and turn the record over - he put Rumours on to wind Niall up cos he'd been so furious that Harry had sung with Stevie and hadn't even told him - Niall grabs Harry's wrist and pulls him back and something turns over in Harry's belly. 

"What?" he asks Niall, looking at his ear because he can't seem to make himself look him in the eye. 

"Just... stay here for a bit, yeah? I feel like shit." 

Harry nods. He gets it. He's been there. He shuffles back, pressing up against Niall, and winds an arm around his shoulders. Niall turns away a little and relaxes back against Harry's chest, sighing. This is fine. They've done this. Harry sits like this with loads of people. He used to sit on Niall's lap in the beginning, on the bus. It didn't mean anything. 

But. He's looking at Niall's ear again now. The back of it. And thinking about maybe running his tongue over it, just a little. He's wondering about the sound Niall would make if he bit down on the lobe. Maybe slid his other arm around Niall's waist and down between his legs and-- 

And he's getting hard. Brilliant. 

"You know what you need?" he says, brightly, pulling away and standing before Niall can stop him. Niall falls back against the cushions and looks up at him, bewildered. 

"What?" 

"A dramatic gesture." 

Niall scrunches his face up. "Ya think?" 

"Yeah. That's what I did after-- Well, you know. I got a tattoo and--" 

"I'm not getting a fecking tattoo." 

"No, not a tattoo. But maybe..." He looks at Niall's ear again. "You used to have a pierced ear, yeah?" 

Niall laughs, shaking his head. "Fucking hell." 

"No, it's perfect. Should be easy to poke through again and I've got an earring somewhere. It can be your 'Fuck off, I'm single' earring." 

Niall's covered his face with both hands, but he's laughing, so Harry goes to find a needle. 

 

"Will you stay still?" Harry says, not for the first time. 

Every time he gets the needle anywhere near Niall's ear, Niall yanks his head away. 

"Fuck off, I can't do it. Just get more beers." 

"I'll get more beers after I've done this." 

Harry's frowning in concentration, tongue bitten between his teeth. He can see the puncture mark on Niall's earlobe from where he did it himself as a teen and he can picture how Niall will look with an actual earring in there - he found a diamond stud that someone gave him once, he can't even remember who - and he really wants to get this done. And then they can get hammered, Niall will go home, and next time they see each other everything will be back to normal. As normal as it ever gets for any of them anyway. 

Harry gets as far as touching Niall's skin with the needle and-- 

"No, that's it!" Niall shouts, twisting towards Harry and grabbing his wrist again. "Forget it. I don't want it. I don't need it. I'm fine." 

"You're not fine," Harry says, trying not to stare at Niall's fingers on his wrist again. He wants him to be fine.

"I am, Haz," Niall says, softly. 

He takes the needle from between Harry's fingers and drops it on the coffee table. Then he turns Harry's hand, pulls it to his mouth, and presses his lips against the palm. 

"Fuck," Harry murmurs. 

"That's what I was thinkin', yeah." 

Harry huffs out a laugh, even though it's not funny, not really. 

"You serious?" 

Something flickers over Niall's face and Harry is immediately sorry he asked. "I mean--" 

"I am, yeah," Niall says, still holding Harry's hand, sliding his thumb over Harry's knuckles, bruised from boxing at the gym. "Been thinkin' about it." 

"Since when?" Harry asks. He genuinely wants to know. 

"Never mind that," Niall says. "You up for it?" 

He's pretending a little now, Harry can tell. Pretending it's not a big deal, just a bit of fun between friends, but Harry knows it would be more than that. He wants to ask what Niall wants, wants to set parameters, try to work out if there's any way they can do this without breaking each other's hearts. God knows, he's been there before and-- 

"Haz," Niall says. 

Harry looks up then. "Yeah. I mean... yeah." 

Niall lurches forward and presses his mouth to Harry's. Harry had wondered if it would feel weird. If this was all theoretical and when it actually happened his brain would go 'Fuck off! It's Niall! What do you think you're doing?!" But Niall's lips are soft and Harry can smell his cologne - the same one he's been wearing practically since the start - and it just feels right. 

Harry slides one hand around the back of Niall's neck and Niall makes a little sound against his mouth that goes right to Harry's dick. Fuck. He pushes Niall back until they're both half-lying down, cushions piled behind Niall and Harry straddling one of his thighs. 

What if they'd done this from the start, Harry wonders. Everything would have been different. Easier. He thinks. Maybe not. 

"Stop thinking," Niall says against Harry's lips and Harry laughs, dipping his head to mouth along Niall's jaw, one hand curling around his hip, holding him down. 

"Yeah, like that," Niall says. "That's... yeah." 

Harry kisses Niall's throat as Niall tugs at Harry's shirt. Most of the buttons are already undone - Niall took the piss when he arrived, yelling "Tits OUT" - but Niall quickly manages to unhook the others and then his hands are sliding underneath and over Harry's skin and Harry wants more. 

"Sit up," he murmurs, shifting back on his heels and pulling Niall up with him. "Take this off." 

He pulls Niall's shirt down off his shoulders, tugs his white t-shirt out of his jeans, starts to fumble with his belt. 

"Wait," Niall says. 

Harry bites his lip, worried he's coming on too strong. But it was Niall who suggested this, he must want it too. 

"It'll be quicker if I--" Niall says, already dropping his shirt on the floor, pulling his t-shirt over his head. 

Harry's hands still on Niall's belt as he looks at his body. He's not the skinny, pasty lad he used to be, that's for sure. He works out every day now and his chest and arms are strong and defined, his skin tanned from all the time he spends in LA. 

Harry's mouth has gone dry. He licks his lips. 

"Need me to do the belt too, mate?" Niall asks, laughing, dropping back against the cushions. 

"No, I can do that," Harry says. "I can definitely do that." 

Niall's eyes are bright, his cheeks pink, as Harry undoes his jeans. He sucks in a breath as Harry slides his hand inside, curling his fingers around Niall's cock. 

"Fuck, Haz," Niall gasps, hips coming up off the sofa. 

"Can I blow you?" Harry asks. 

"Jesus. Yeah." 

Harry shuffles back, working Niall's jeans down over his hips, wondering how this is happening, what will happen after, if they're making a huge mistake. But they're not in the band anymore, none of their mistakes will ever be as big as they used to be. 

"Wait," Niall says, just as Harry's about to drop his head to his dick. 

"You okay?" 

"Yeah. M'good. Could you just... come up here and kiss me a bit?" 

Harry hides his smile against Niall's hip before shifting up the sofa to press himself along Niall's side. 

"Can you believe this?" Niall says, Harry's lips on his neck. 

Harry laughs. "I can't believe you were going to let me pierce your ear." 

Niall reaches up behind himself, pulls out a cushion and smacks Harry with it, laughing. 

"At least it wasn't a tattoo." 

"You'd look hot with a tattoo," Harry says, rolling on top of him and kissing him quickly. "My name." He runs his finger between Niall's collarbones. "Just here." 

Niall laughs. "Fuck off." 

But the thought of it - his name on Niall's body - makes something crack in Harry's chest. He dips his head and sucks Niall's formerly pierced earlobe into his mouth. 

And then they don't say anything for a while. 

 


End file.
